Rakhine residents of Yangon arrested at Kyaukphyu Airport

Nearly 100 young ethnic Rakhine residents of Yangon have been arrested at Kyaukphyu Airport in Rakhine State since Sunday afternoon, according to local sources. The first batch of arrests took place at 4:30pm on Sunday, when 36 men and 30 women flying aboard Myanmar National Airlines flight UB1413 from Yangon were taken into custody soon after landing at the airport. This was followed by the arrest of another 26 people who arrived in the coastal city on a Mingalar Airlines (formerly Air KBZ) flight at around 7:45am on Monday. “Because they were a big group of young people booking flights in bulk, the military knew when they were going to land and were waiting for them at the airport. They took them to their military trucks as soon as they landed,” said a source who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity. Another source who works as a merchant in Kyaukphyu said the detained youths are all currently being interrogated at the town’s Yammarwaddy Hall. “The military said they had to question them and took them to the Yammarwaddy Hall. No one has been released yet, as of [Monday] afternoon. There are around 20 family members waiting in front of the hall,” said the merchant. Myanmar Now tried to contact Hla Thein, the spokesperson for the junta’s administration in Rakhine State, as well as Kyaukphyu’s Central Police Station, but all calls went unanswered. Relatives of the detained Rakhine youths gather outside of the Yammarwaddy Hall in Kyaukphyu on February 19 (Supplied) Myanmar Now has also been unable to speak with the families of the detainees. However, it is believed that their decision to return to Kyaukphyu, where they were all originally from, was related to the regime’s announcement last week that it would begin conscripting young people into the military. The decision to enforce a more than decade-old conscription law has prompted many young people to leave major urban centres that remain firmly under the control of the regime. For those hailing from Rakhine State, however, returning is not an easy option, as travel has been heavily restricted there since late last year due to fighting between the military and the Arakan Army (AA). At present, the only way to travel to the state is by air. “Many Rakhine youths working in Yangon want to go back home and keep asking me how they can do that. But all the roads there are blocked, so I just tell them not to worry too much,” said an ethnic Rakhine taxi driver living in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township. A source in Rakhine State said the recent arrests may also be related to the regime’s concerns about young people joining the AA, which has captured a number of key towns in the northern part of the state and has also engaged in fierce fighting near Kyaukphyu since the start of its offensive. That offensive—part of Operation 1027, launched by the AA and its allies in northern Shan State in late October—has seen the group take control of the towns of Pauktaw, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, and Myebon. It is also continuing its attacks on regime forces in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, and the state capital Sittwe. An employee of Sun Far Travels and Tours, the Yangon-based company that booked the tickets for the 66 Myanmar National Airlines passengers who were arrested on Sunday, said that it was unclear if flights to Kyaukphyu would be operating in the coming days.

Rakhine residents of Yangon arrested at Kyaukphyu Airport

Nearly 100 young men and women have been detained since late Sunday, amid junta suspicions that they were planning to join the AA

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